By Sergiy and Chalyi
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russian forces launched a large attack early on Tuesday on Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, killing a 41-year-old man, injuring at least 18 people and triggering a number of fires, the regional governor said.
Ivan Fedorov said that two children were among the injured. Pictures posted by the governor online showed firefighters battling blazes in private homes and other buildings.
In Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s emergency services reported a fire covering an area of 350 square metres (4,000 sq ft) in three residential buildings and in a service station.
According to preliminary reports, Fedorov said, Russian forces had carried out 10 strikes from multiple rocket launch systems, damaging 10 apartment buildings and 12 private homes.
“I heard some distant explosions, very far away, so we went to sleep. And then there was a super strong explosion which blew out our windows,” Zaporizhzhia resident Oleksii, 35, told Reuters.
“I immediately went outside and ran to my neighbours to extinguish the fire. I was so worried about them.”
Other Ukrainian cities in the centre, south, and east of the country also came under attack as Russian troops launched more than 100 drones and about 150 glide bombs overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
One person was killed in the southern Mykolaiv region, Zelenskiy said. Two people were injured in the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, according to regional officials.
In the central Kyiv region, a large retail logistical centre was hit in the Russian attacks, with thick columns of dark smoke rising into the sky and firefighters battling the blaze.
“This is precisely the kind of aerial terror against which Ukraine is calling for joint defence…,” Zelenskiy said in a post on the X platform.
“Now is the time to implement the joint protection of our European skies with a multi-layered air defence system.”
So far this month, Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones of different types, nearly 190 missiles, and more than 2,500 aerial bombs, Zelenskiy said.
(Reporting by Sergiy Chalyi in Zaporizhzhia and Anastasiia Malenko in Kyiv, writing by Olena Harmash; Editing by Gareth Jones)
